{"id":2291,"date":"2019-09-06T12:27:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T17:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/?page_id=2291"},"modified":"2025-07-30T11:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T15:22:10","slug":"thirteen-reasons-why","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/thirteen-reasons-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Banned Books 2025 &#8211; Thirteen Reasons Why"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"marsha-row mt-4 mb-4 flex flex-wrap -mx-2 lg:-mx-6  justify-start border-0 border-gray-100 first:mt-0\">\n\t\n<p><!-- *  START LEFT COLUMN  *--><div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-3\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<div>\n                                            \n\n<h2>Links<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a id=\"current\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/bannedbooks-2025\/author\/\">2025 Author<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/bannedbooks-2025\/title\/\">2025 Title<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/bannedbooks\/\">Banned Books Home<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><hr \/><\/p>\n<h2>Cover<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"449\" src=\"http:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/files\/2019\/09\/thirteenreasonswhy.jpg\" alt=\"Thirteen Reasons Why\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2295\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/files\/2019\/09\/thirteenreasonswhy.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/files\/2019\/09\/thirteenreasonswhy-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mulibiiidb.marshall.edu\/record=b1813635~S12\">Held at Marshall University (Drinko Juvenile Collection &#8211; JF A8254th)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><!-- *** ** END LEFT COLUMN ** ***-->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><p><!-- *** ** START RIGHT COLUMN ** **--><div class=\"columns w-full lg:w-9\/12  lg:px-6    mt-6\">\n<div class=\"\">\n\n<p><strong>Marshall University does not ban books!  The information is provided to let people know what has been banned\/challenged elsewhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>2025<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Thirteen Reasons Why<\/strong> was one of 10 titles challenged at the St. Joseph School District (MO) by individuals associated with the Christian nationalist Herzog Foundation. 8 Other titles targeted include <strong>And Tango Makes Three<\/strong> and <strong>This Book Is Anti-Racist<\/strong>. The individuals alleged the books contain illegal obscenity and requested Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey to issue warrants for the arrest of all school librarians working for the district. The books went through the district\u2019s reconsideration process. The review committee recommended retaining eight titles without restriction. After a split vote by the committee, <strong>Tricks<\/strong> and <strong>All Boys Aren\u2019t Blue<\/strong> now require parental permission for checkout.<\/p>\n<h2>2022<\/h2>\n<p>The Protect Nebraska Children Coalition brought an extensive list of books to the Wauneta-Pallisade (NE) Public Schools board meeting and wanted the books removed from both the elementary and high school libraries. The list of more than 30 titles included <strong>The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian<\/strong> by Sherman Alexie, <strong>Ghost Boys<\/strong> by Jewell Parker Rhodes, <strong>Thirteen Reasons Why<\/strong> by Jay Asher, <strong>Go Tell It on the Mountain<\/strong> by James Baldwin, <strong>Speak<\/strong> by Laurie Halse Anderson, <strong>Dear Martin<\/strong> by Nic Stone, <strong>The Color Purple<\/strong> by Alice Walker, <strong>The Kite Runner<\/strong> by Khaled Hosseini, <strong>Beloved<\/strong> by Toni Morrison, <strong>The Undefeated<\/strong> by Kwame Alexander, <strong>Pink Is for Boys<\/strong> by Robb Pearlman, and <strong>Harbor Me<\/strong> by Jacqueline Woodson. The books were removed for evaluation.<\/p>\n<h2>2020<\/h2>\n<p>Parents of the Westwood (NJ) Regional Schools argued that <b>Thirteen Reasons Why<\/b> by Jay Asher, and <b>Can&#8217;t Get There From Here<\/b> and <b>Boot Camp<\/b> by Todd Strasser, had the potential to do &#8220;irrevocable harm and should be pulled from the school.&#8221;&#8221;  Following an author visit from Strasser, all three books were added to the Westwood Regional Middle School language arts classroom library by the principal. After committee evaluations, she replied to patents&#8217; complaints: the two Strasser books would remain in the classroom collections and Asher&#8217;s book would be relocated to the school library. The school board voted to retain the titles. A local police chief, in favor of removing the books, announced that he was running for a seat on the board.<\/p>\n<h2>2019<\/h2>\n<p>Banned, challenged, and restricted for addressing teen suicide.<\/p>\n<h2>2018<\/h2>\n<p>Temporarily removed from school library shelves at the Mesa County (CO) School District because of recent teenage suicides in the community by the curriculum director. Book was returned after protest by school librarians. Banned at Red Deer Catholic School Division (Canada) after school counselors and psychologists hosted an evening discussion with families on mental health and safety over concerns that the TV series glamorized teen suicide. Banned at Stone Lakes Elementary School (FL). The principal said &#8220;Besides depicting the suicide itself in a somewhat graphic nature, there is frequent use of profanity, alcohol and sexually material (both in the book and TV show).&#8221; Retained as required reading for sophomores at a Fort Wayne (IN) Community Schools high school after a mother complained about the book. Her concerns centered on the tone of the main characters expressions, lack of mental health care, and author&#8217;s lack of moral lesson for those suffering depression. Banned from Anderson County (KY) Middle School libraries and classrooms by the superintendent after the Netflix series aired. Many viewers claim that the series based on the novel glamorizes teen suicide and unrealistically portrays relationships with adults and counselors.<\/p>\n<h2>2017<\/h2>\n<p>Challenged and under review in the sophomore-level Academic English II classes at Lemont (IL) High School District 210 because a parent considered it &#8220;pornographic.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>2013<\/h2>\n<p>Challenged for drugs, alcohol, smoking, being sexually explicit, suicide, and being unsuited for age group.<\/p>\n<h2>On These Pages<\/h2>\n<p>A <strong>Banned<\/strong> book has been removed from a library, classroom, etc.<br \/>\nA <strong>Challenged<\/strong> book has been requested to be removed from a library, classroom, etc.<\/p>\n<h2>For additional information contact<\/h2>\n<p>Ron Titus, <a href=\"mailto:titus@marshall.edu\">titus@marshall.edu<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"tel:304-696-6575\">304-696-6575<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Last updated<\/h2>\n<p>July 30, 2025<\/p>\n<p><!-- ** ** END RIGHT COLUMN *** *-->\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n<p><!-- *** * END FULL PAGE DIV * *** --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"parent":2039,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2291","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2291"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15292,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2291\/revisions\/15292"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}